


This Thing We Have

by ami_ven



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Community: mcsheplets, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-23
Updated: 2014-05-23
Packaged: 2018-01-26 05:07:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 600
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1675808
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ami_ven/pseuds/ami_ven
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Dammit, McKay,” snapped John.  “You do not get to die.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	This Thing We Have

**Author's Note:**

> written for LJ community "mcsheplets" prompt #012 "forever"

“Dammit, McKay,” snapped John. “You do not get to die.”

Rodney gave a snort of mocking laughter. “Apparently, you don’t get a say in the matter, Sheppard,” he said, from where he was slumped against the cave wall, with another laugh that trailed off into a wheezing cough.

He was almost ghostly pale, and his breathing was getting worse. At first, they’d thought it was an allergic reaction to something in the air, but when Rodney had started having trouble breathing, the EpiPen had done nothing to help. Neither had any of the medicines they carried, or the dozen other things John had tried in desperation.

All he could do was watch Rodney get steadily worse, and hope that Teyla and Ronon could bring Carson in time.

“You _don’t_ get to die,” John repeated, stubbornly.

“What, because that’s your job?” Rodney retorted. “I’m sorry there wasn’t a bullet you could jump in front of this time, colonel.”

“Rodney…”

“You’re just mad because, like everything else, I’ll do this better and actually succeed.” He pulled John’s jacket tighter around himself and continued, speaking more to himself than to John, now, “But I guess… maybe it’s not so bad. At least now, I won’t be around long enough for you to dump me for someone better.”

“Dammit, Rodney, that isn’t funny!” John yelled. “I hate when you say stuff like that. You made me believe I was going to have a future, so you damn well better be there with me!”

“I— What?” Rodney spluttered. “I didn’t—”

He broke off, coughing violently. John dropped to his knees beside him and helped him sit up, then pressed a canteen into his hand.

Rodney took a long drink, several deep breaths and another long swallow, then glared at John. “Explain,” he demanded.

John sighed and sat back on his heels. “I don’t have a death wish, Rodney, but I never exactly thought I’d live this long. Whenever I tried to picture my future, there was just… nothing. So, it didn’t matter if I survived, because there was nothing ahead of me, and my taking risks could let someone else live. But you’re always thinking about the future, and now you’ve made me think about it, too.”

Without even being aware of it, he reached for Rodney’s hand and laced their fingers together. “I want to see you win your Nobel, okay? I want to watch Teyla’s kid grow up. And when I retire, we’re going to find a place on the Mainland where you can set up your own lab, and I can go surfing, and you can lecture me on reckless hobbies until we’re just too old and we have to move in with one of Torren’s grandkids. Because this thing we have, McKay? You and me? That’s forever.”

“I—” Rodney began, but Teyla’s voice called, “John! Rodney!”

“We’re here!” John called back, and Rodney passed out just as Carson knelt to examine him.

Rodney woke up sometime later in Atlantis’s infirmary.

“I said you wouldn’t die,” said John, grinning, when Carson had left to finish his paperwork. 

Rodney grinned back, then frowned. “I didn’t imagine you saying the rest of it, though?” he asked. “About… about the future, and forever?”

“You didn’t imagine it,” John told him.

“And you didn’t just say it because you thought I was dying?”

“What? No!”

“Oh,” said Rodney, softly. “Forever?”

“Yes,” John replied, firmly. He reached out to take Rodney’s hand again. “Forever.”

“Okay. But when we retire, we’re staying on Atlantis. You’ll have indulge in potentially-fatal hobbies on the weekends.”

John grinned. “Deal.”

THE END


End file.
